consumers large and small rely on back up generators, at huge cost to both the environment and economy says energy expert kirit parikh. he traces the problem to policies that never really took into account the cost of power and gave it away to some consumers >> we started out with saying farmers should get cheap and free electricity. this was 30 years ago when we wanted farmers to really adopt more modern technologies, it was considered a good way to promote green revolution. >> reporter: power was distributed cheaply or free to farmers and other groups who's votes politicians courted. little effort was made to meter it. that prompted many people to hook themselves up, illegally. parikh says a third of all power is stolen off the grid. >> of the generated electricity is not charged to anyone. >> reporter: with little new money coming in, public utilities haven't been able to expand capacity or to buy enough fuel like coal or natural gas-- both in short supply anyway. power must be rationed but some regions overdraw their allotment. that can cause the system to shut down, or as it did l